Watching the Snow Buntings
    
One cold winter day I was reading a good book about snow buntings, small white-and-brown birds. My younger brother, Joshua, was reading about monkeys. There were two inches of snow outside, and it was twenty degrees Fahrenheit.

Suddenly, Joshua got a bright idea. “Mom, can we go outside to play in the snow?” he asked.

“OK, but remember to bundle up and clean off your boots when you come back in!” said Mom.

Joshua and I put on our snow pants, thick coats, hats, and gloves. Then we pulled on our boots. Joshua ran out of the door first and yelled, “I win! I win!”

“Let’s have a snowball fight! Whoever is hit first loses,” I said.

“No, let’s make a snow fort with bricks,” suggested Joshua.

We went inside, cleaned and took off our boots, got our snow brick makers, and went back outside. We made snow bricks and a small snow hut with sticks that we had gathered at our private rock beach. Then Mom called us back in for dinner and bedtime.

The next day, we were shocked to find that two snow buntings had made a nest on a snow chair in our fort! We told Mom about it.

“What will you name them?” asked Mom.

“We’ll name one Chifi and the other Peeps,” I replied.

Joshua and I watched the snow buntings busily putting finishing touches on their nest. After a few days, Peeps laid two beautiful eggs!

A month later, the eggs hatched. We named one chick Tweet and the other Cheep. The birds lived happily with us for a month. During that time, they because fully fledged and were able to fly.

The buntings flew away after another week. I kept their nest as a souvenir of the month we’d hosted the snow buntings that I’d made friends with.